Pumpkin to Pumpkinchen

Autumn is near so Pumpkin craze is on !!

There will be more to come.

I have used Hokkaido because its texture is firm like potato and the colour is a rich orangey gold.kins

Ingredients for dough (10 pieces):

• 400 g Pumpkin (Hokkaido), cleaned and cut into cubes
• 50 g Rice Flour
• 100g cornflour 1tsp salt

Ingredients for filling:

• 200 g mixed mince meat (beef and pork)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 pcs dried tomato, fine cut with sissors
• 1 stick spring onions, cut into fine rings
• pieces of chives for decoration

Method:

1. Steam pumpkin until soft.
2. Mash it with a fork while still hot or press through a potato ricer.
3. Add salt and stir till well combined. Press through a sieve to make sure that there are no lumps.
4. Sieve riceflour and cornflour together.
5. Add into pumpkin puree in 2 portions.
6. Knead into a smooth dough.
7. Divide dough into 10 portions.
8. Flatten a piece of dough to a round disc.
9. Put a ball of mincemeat filling at the centre and wrap skin over the filling, making sure it is totally sealed.
10. Roll into a round shape then slightly flatten the top, using small finger to make a dent in the middle.
11. Using blunt side of knife, 'draw' or carve segments to resemble pumpkin.
12. Steam over medium heat for 10-15 minutes.
13. Once cooled, place a piece of chives to resemble stalk.
14. Serve with or without sauce.
15. Note: It is important not to steam at high temperature. High heat will cause the pumpkins to crack.

Chicken & shredded ginger stewed in rice wine

Ginger and sesame oil are considered as 'warm' food. And as such, good for new mothers' diet in the first month after birth. A very common and much loved combination is ginger, sesame oil with chicken. Chicken because chicken meat is considered 'light' meat. This recipe is about chicken & schredded ginger stewed in rice wine (homemade) residue.

Ingredients

• 2-3 pcs chicken breast or thighs (wash and cut into bite size )
  
• 300 gm ginger, peel and slice or cut into sticks
  
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce or oyster sauce (optional)
  
• salt to taste
  
• 3 tbsp rice wine residue or 1 cup (dry) sherry
  
• 1 cup water
  
• 1/2 cup (roasted black) sesame oil

Method

1. Heat the sesame oil in a wok or pan.
   
2. When the oil is hot, add ginger slices/sticks
   
3. Stir-fry briefly until it is aromatic, then add the chicken.
   
4. Stir-fry briefly, then add wine residue/sherry.
   
5. Turn heat on low and simmer 20-30 mins.
   
6. Thicken sauce with a little cornflour if necessary.
   
7. Serve hot with steamed rice.

Note: For more goodness, I added goji beries and mu errh mushrooms.

Kumquat Preserve

The kumquat can be eaten whole with skin, cooked in honey or sugar, or preserved with salt. Steep a few of these golden gems in hot water and it will become a delicious drink hot or cold, summer or winter to sooth the throat. It is a wonderful refreshment enjoyed all year round. Ingredients

• 250 gm fresh kamquats
  
• 250 gm sugar or 100 ml honey

Method

1. Wash kumquats and remove stems.
   
2. Use a pin and prick 4 or 5 times on each kumquat.
   
3. Place kumquats in a pan with 250ml water. Boil 5 minutes at medium flame.
   
4. Discard water.
   
5. Add sugar/honey and add enough water to cover the fruits.
   
6. Cook/simmer at medium heat for about 15 minutes or until fruits are soft.
   
7. Fill into a sterilized jar with twist-off lid.

Rice Wine (homemade), part 2

After 21 days of brewing, I filtered the wine through cheese cloth. The liquid is heated but removed just before it starts to boil. Set aside to cool and at same time, let the sediment settle. Pour the clear wine into a bottle. Store in fridge or cool dark place. The wine residue is kept in fridge. It is good for stews, stir-frys or even as grill marinade.

The experiment with Brewers Yeast was not successful. It was sour without any trace or taste of alcohol :-(

Drunken chicken (with homemade Huang Jiu)

There are many different ways of cooking drunken chicken. One popular version is to cook and marinate the chicken exclusively in Shaoxing wine. Another version (guess this is the 'foreign' chinese) is using glutinuous rice wine which is my personal preference as it is much lighter and simple to prepare. And one does not get drunk just from eating few pieces of chicken. Usually, this is a starter at a wedding banquet. The chicken is served in the liquor/wine flavoured gelatine. I have not eaten this dish since I left home. Lily and I made this dish at the same time so hope to see her version in blog soon. Ingredients

• 2 chicken thighs (deboned)
  
• A handful goji berries/wolfberries
  
• salt + pepper
  
• 1 cup homemade rice wine
  
• 1 tsp shaoxing wine
  
• Optional: 4 slices dong guai or ginseng, red dates, or dried longan.

Method

1. Trim excess skin. Place chicken thigh, skin down and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread goji berries/woldberries evenly over meat and roll up. Bind with string.
   
2. Place rolled chicken in a deep dish and steam at medium heat for 30 minutes or until cooked. (Add optional ingredients to steam at this stage.) You may stick a skewer into meat, if no pink liquid flows out, it is cooked.
   
3. Lift chicken out of dish and let cool. IMPORTANT - DO NOT DISCARD LIQUID/CHICKEN STOCK COLLECTED AT BOTTOM OF DISH.
   
4. When chicken is cooled, remove strings and with a very sharp knife, cut into 2cm thick slices.
   
5. Arrange chicken slices in a deep dish.
   
6. Add rice wine and shaoxing to CHICKEN STOCK.
   
7. Pour liquid over chicken slices.
   
8. Cover dish with cling film and place dish in the refrigerator to chill for at least 24 hours.
   
9. Serve cold with dijon mustard as dip.

Oyster Mushrooms with sugar peas & red bell pepper

It has been raining 'cats and dogs' on otherwise warm and sunny days. Which means mushroom weather as mushrooms do well in warm dampnes. Will have to wait another 3 warm days then it's mushroom hunting time.

Meanwhile, I have bought some oyster mushrooms. This is another of my all-time favourite dishes. Very quick to prepare and perfect to be served with steamed rice.

Oyster Mushrooms with sugar peas & red bell pepper

Ingredients

• 300gm oyster mushrooms (clean and cut into bite size )
• 1 red bell pepper, diced/cubed
• 200gm snow peas, rinse and pick ends
• 1 pip garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce or oyster sauce
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 2-3 tbsp oil for frying

Method

• Heat the oil in a preheated wok or shallow pan on medium-high.
• When the oil is hot, add the minced chopped garlic.
• Stir-fry briefly until it is aromatic, then add the snow peas and red pepper.
• Stir-fry briefly, then add mushroom.
• Then flavour with soya sauce and sugar.
• Stir until all well combined. Remove and serve.

Note: Total stir-frying time for this dish about 2 minutes.

Bunny Chow

The first time I heard of this was from a South African who came to visit. He described his way of eating this 'Bunny', you'd think he was spending a night with a Playboy Bunny....."First you dip into the juicy centre, then when the juice overflow, you just lick around the sides..." OK Stop that dirty mind!

There appears to be some confusion. Neither rabbits are involved.

It's a white bread. A half loaf of sandwich or if you're very hungry, l whole sandwich loaf - hollowed out and filled with hot-like-hell curry. It was originally strictly vegetarian but these days, you can get it with lamb and chicken. It's a popular takeaway can be purchased at nearly any Indian eatery in Durban. I was told it is also available elsewhere in South Africa but I've not seen in places I went to, like Jo'burg and Cape Town.

It appears that the Indian golf caddies weren't given a decent lunch break, so they had friends bring them curry in the most convenient edible container available. Another story goes that Indians working in the cane fields in KwaZulu-Natal (the job for which their immigration was originally encouraged) would have lunch brought to them in this form. Hence, Bunny Chow is a humble working-class dish. Whatever the truth is, Durban has the largest Indian community outside of India.

Bunny Chow is one of those Indian dishes that has never seen the shores of India.

Here is the vegetarian filling...

Lentil Curry

Ingredients

• 150 gm red lentils
• 1 tbsp garam masala (too lazy to make my own so I had a friend to bring me a pack from India)
• 1 large or 2 small onions (chopped)
• 3 tbsp sunflower/corn oil
• 1 tsp chilli powder (optional)
• 1/2 tsp kukurma
• 1 can chopped tomatoes (or 3-4 fresh ones, chopped)
• 2 slices of fresh ginger
• 2 cloves garlic (chopped)
• salt

Method

• Heat up oil in a deep pan at medium.
• Add onions and fry till it's soft (glassig). It takes about 5 minutes.
• Add garam masala to onions and stir for about 30 seconds.
• Add kukurma and chilli powder, mix them into the masala (about 30seconds)
• Add tomatoes, stir another 30 seconds.
• Add lentils, ginger and garlic.
• Cover and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, till soft.
• Add salt to taste

To serve, cut a sandwich load into half. Remove the centre/scoop out the centre and just load in the lentils till it's flowing over.

I couldn't find a whole sandwich loaf from my bakery so I simply got a bun. Another alternative is to serve with chapati.

Tastes best when eaten with fingers.

Rice Wine (Homemade)... aka Huang Jiu

Not too sure if it's the same with chinese in other parts of the world but I have seen my grandmother "brew" her own rice wine.

She usually start when one of my aunts or relatives gets pregnant. She will steam the rice in a huge bamboo basket and then the rice would have to be cooled before wine yeast is added, then the mixture would be carefully loaded into a huge earthen 'jug'. This jug (with a volume of at least 50 litres) will then be hidden in a dark corner of the house.

The following week or two, I usually smell the sweet fermentation around the whole house. It was illegal then to brew your own 'alcohol'. Imagine the tension !!

By the time the female relative gives birth, the wine would be ready as well. The new mother will get to eat chicken cooked in this wine the next 30 days, for lunch and dinner. It's suppose to be healthy.

I have made several attempts to make this but it always ended up in failure due to one reason or another. Was discussing about it with Lily and Peng and we decided to give it a go.

This will be my umpteenth attempt... keeping fingers crossed !!

When I was in J'burg, South Africa I picked up a pack of Brewers Yeast which the locals use to concoct their own brew. Grains or old breads were used to brew so I use rice.

Ingredients

• 500 gm glutinuous rice
• 1 pc (marble) wine yeast.........(second version) 1 tsp brewers yeast
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 cup water (optional)

Method

• Wash and soak glutinuous rice in water overnight.
• Next day cook rice as you would with long grain rice in an electric rice cooker.
• When done, tilt the rice cooker cover slightly to release moisture.
• Let rice cool to room temperature.... Do not be impatient, really coooool the rice.
• Grind the yeast 'marble' into powder. (This step is not necessary when using brewers yeast)
• Spread the cooled rice on a plate or a shallow wide pan and sprinkle the yeast over the rice as evenly as possible.
• If the rice is too dry, sprinkle a bit of water over the rice and mix thoroughly.
• Store rice/yeast mixture in a deep glass/porcelain jug with cover.
• It does not have to be air-tight as the fermentation starts, it has to 'breath'.
• Place jug in a warm dark place and let the yeast do its work.
• Now just have to wait 4 weeks.

Apple Sauce (Apfel-Kompott)

Almost every week, I would go to the fresh market to pick up 4-5 kgs of apples. It doesn’t matter which variety. It’s usually a mixture of Jonah Gold, Fuji, Elster which are grown in our region. Each morning I would throw 2 or 3 apples plus 5-6 sticks of carrots into the juicer and Voila!, my vitamine fix for the day... I intend to live well over hundred.

Today, I realised soon it would be apple season and I still have 5 kgs of apples from last year. Decided to turn them into apple sauce as I have a longing for a special pasta dish served with apple sauce. I'm not kidding - Pasta with apple sauce!! I'm sure KP is longing for this too :-D

But first, the apple sauce.

Absolutely simple and straight forward:

Ingredients

• 4 kg apples (any sort of apples)
• Juice from 1 lemon to prevent browning.
• Sugar to your taste (optional)

Method

I did not add any sugar into mine. But if you're using fall apples, you might need some.

• Wash, slice/chop up your apples into 4-6 piece chunks.
• Remove any brown spots or anything you don’t want in your apple sauce.
• Leave everything else on.
• Read here http://www.penningsorchard.com/benefits.html.
• Place in a deep pan.
• Add a stick of cinnamon if you like.
• Add 1 lemon juice to preserve the colour and ½ cup of water to kickstart the cooking process...
• Turn on heat low and cook. Stir occasionally. It may take 30 minutes or longer, depending on the amount/volume of apples you have.
• Once the apples turn mushy, it is ready.
• Work the sauce with a food mill (Flotto Lotto) to remove the skin.
• I simply fish them out with a fork as I like mine a bit chunky.
• Return the sauce into the pan.
• Add sugar if you wish.
• Cook again at medium temperature.
• When it starts to bubble, turn off heat and pour sauce into twist-off glass jars and seal.
• Immediately set the jars upside down for 15 minutes.
• Once it is cooled, it will be air-tight.
• If there is no vacuum, the sauce should be consumed within a week.
• Store the jars in a cool dark place.

Basic Homesick Food

Anyone who lives outside of their homeland will at some point feel homesick for familiar tastes and smells. This feeling of nostalgia hit me this morning when I picked a corgette from my garden.

A very basic dish without much preparation. Suitable for people who are 'spice shy'. Dress it up with chilli sauce, soya sauce, ketchup or even with a sprinkle of garam masala, it becomes a multiculture dish.

Ingredients

• 300-400 gm corgette (sliced into sticks)
• 3-4 eggs (whisked)
• 2 pips of garlic
• 3 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 1tsp salt or 1tsp chicken broth powder
• 1 fresh milled pepper

Method

1. Heat up a pan (preferably non-stick), add oil into pan when it is hot. Once it starts to smoke (yes!! smoke!): add garlic.
2. Stir garlic till it starts to brown. Add corgette and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes.
3. Add salt or chicken broth powder. Pour whisked eggs over the whole surface of corgette and let the egg cook.
4. Do not stir. It will only take about 30 seconds (if the flame is high).
5. Flip the 'omelette' over, try not to break it up.
   ^{I was not successful with mine...   ;-(}
6. Cook for another 30 seconds. Done. Serve warm.

Black Currant and Cranberry Cake (Glutenfree)

Yummie, yummie...

Found this receipe in an 'Organic' magazine. What caught my attention was this cake was using YEAST instead of baking powder.

I have some dried cranberries, fresh black currants and a bag of glutenfree flour. And of course, other basic baking ingredients like eggs and butter which I always have.

Ingredients

• 150 gm butter
• 150 gm brown sugar
• 4 eggs (small)
• 180 gm glutenfree flour
• 1 pack yeast
• 1 pinch of salt
• 200 gm fresh black currants
• 50 gm dried cranberries

Method

1. Cream butter with sugar and salt.
2. Whisk eggs and slowly add into butter cream.
3. Sieve yeast and flour together and fold into batter.
_{At this stage, I let the batter 'rest' for 20 minutes to give the yeast a chance to proof. Meanwhile, preheat oven at 220°C.}
4. Line a loaf pan with baking paper to prevent cake from sticking.
5. Dust black currants and cranberries with 2 tbsp flour.

6. Carefully fold the berries into the batter.
7. Fill batter into pan and 'proof' another 5-10 minutes. Bake 15 minutes at 220°C. Reduce temperature down to 180°C and bake further 20 minutes or until brown.
8. Remove cake from loaf pan but do not remove baking paper and let cool.
9. Once cooled, remove baking paper and dust over with icing sugar.

Conclusion

The cake did not raise as high as a yeast dough should. No taste of yeast is detected in the cake.

That means, an alternative raising agent like baking powder or cream of tartar (Weinsteinpulver) is acceptable.

As there was no vanilla essence added, the aroma of black currants and cranberries were quite prominent - tangy and fruity. Perfect for people with gluten allergy or celiac disease.

Savoury Couscous Muffins

Here comes one of my greatest 'hits'. It's become a very popular fingerfood around here, since I introduced it. I'm always asked by friends to bring along a basket full for their parties.

Ingredients

• 1 large onion chopped
• 50-75 gm butter
• 100 gm cubed smoked ham
• 250 gm cooked couscous
• 5-6 pcs dried tomatoes(chopped)
• 200 gm schredded cheese (Emmentaler)
• 1 tsp natron or baking powder sieved into 100 gm all purpose flour
• 5 eggs

Method

Melt butter in pan.

Add chopped onions and ham.

Fry on medium for 5 minutes.

Set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 200°C.

Mix gently tomatoes, flour with natro/baking powder and cheese to couscous.

Add cooked onions with ham.

Whisk eggs till foamy and gently fold into mixture.

Fill 3/4 full into muffin pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Serve warm with creme fraiche or sour cream.

Kaya Classic

Kaya classic

Rich and sinful... on sticky rise...

Eggs, pandan leafs and ginger...

Call it coconut jam or coconut custard for better western understanding.

Despite the many various colours/shades of green kayas seen over the years, I've never diverted from the basic old fashion receipe. So my kaya is still caramel brown, free of artificial colours and aroma.

Been making kaya over the years for family and friends but have never bothered to write it down. Guess it's time to share........

Ingredients:

• 10 eggs (large)
• 250 gm sugar (generally it's 1 heap tbsp per egg)
• 1 pinch of salt
• 2-3 screwpine leaves (pandan)
• 1000 ml (1 ltr UHT pack)
• coconut milk [*]
• 2-3 slices fresh ginger
• xtra 3 tbsp of sugar for caramel

_{([*] Note: I placed the coconut milk in the refrigerator for 2 hours so that cream is hardened and water is separated. Discard water)}

Method:

Heat 3 tablespoons of sugar in a pan till sugar caramalises to a dark brown colour but not burnt.

Remove from heat and slowly/carefully add coconut cream. Return to heat, stir till caramel is dissolved.

Set aside.

This method is new and much more simple - thanks to Lily.

Place eggs, sugar and salt in a deep pan.

Stir or use whisk to mix till sugar is dissolved.

I used a plunger (stabmixer).

Tie pandan leaves into a knot and ginger slices into mixture.

Place pan in double boiler and stir slowly, scrappng the bottom of pan.

When mixture is warm or after approximately 10 minutes, add coconut caramel. Keep stirring.

Kaya is done when the mixture starts thicken. It should take another 10 minutes. Do not overcook the kaya to grainy texture. Remove from bath.

Remove pandan leaves and ginger slices.

Serve.

How to eat kaya?

• On breads or better, on buttered toast.
• As TV snacks on crackers.
• With steamed glutinuous rice.

Some people make kaya in the microwave and some with breadmaker. Experiment if you want but I stick to my classic method.

Winter Food Series: Today, Braised Chicken/Duck!

Chicken cooking...

People can't wait to taste it...

The final dish...

Or rather, Voodoo Chicken (Duck).

Dug into my freezer once again. Yes, got the urge for some meaty stuff. This bird has been sitting in the freezer for 6 months. Which is too long. Decided to tan this duck... easy peesy.

Ingredients

• 1 Chicken/Duck (1.5 – 2 kg)
• a wide and deep pan... even a Wok
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 heap tsp 5 spice powder (for Germans: Lebkuchen-Gewürz)
• 1/2 cup of dark soya sauce
• 1 piece dried mandarin peel (you can dry your own)
• 500 ml HOT water
• salt to taste
• 5 hard-boiled eggs, shelled

Method

Clean chicken/duck. Remove superfluous fat from the ar..

Heat pan, add sugar and let it caramelize. Be careful: I said 'caramelize' and not 'burn'.

Once the caramel takes on a light brown colour, add 5-spice powder.

Stir in for about 5 seconds and add hot water. Why hot water? If you add cold water to caramel, it will splash and you might get burnt.

Slip chicken/duck into the caramel water.

Add soya sauce.

Add mandarin peel (plus 'spare parts' like heart, gizzard, neck, bishop's nose for extra flavour) and cover.

Simmer at medium heat for about 2 hours.

Turn the chicken/duck over after 1 hour.

Add hardboiled eggs 15 minutes before the final 2 hours are over.

Add more water if necessary.

Adjust with salt accordingly.

To serve (Western[*] way) cut duck into 4 pieces with (voodoo) halved eggs, fresh spring onions and sliced cucumber. Dribble sauce over duck. Serve with hot rice. Use sweet-sour chilli sauce as dip.

----

[*] Note: Western way

Handmade Hokkien (Chinese) Noodles - Experimenting with different types of flour

Brand 'Rosenmehl' Flour

Hand-made Hokkien Noodles

Brand 'Diamant' Flour

Hand-made Hokkien Noodles

Today I tried to make my own Hokkien noodles. But I wasn't sure which flour to take for best results. So I made some experiments.

Pasta Flour (Brand 'Diamant'

• 250 gm pasta flour
• 125 ml water
• 1 tsp lye water
• 1 tsp salt

Result: Colour is pleasant yellow like hokkien noodles. Chewy texture. Good result.

Allpurpose flour (Brand 'Rosenmehl')

• 250 gm flour
• 125 ml water
• 1 ts lye water
• 1 tsp salt

Result: Colour is yellow but with tinge of grey. Chewy texture. Good result.

In my opinion, both flours are suitable for Hokkien noodles. No big difference in texture. Only a slight difference in colour - all purpose flour has a slight greyish tinge but it is only noticeable when you put the two noodles together.

Portuguese Tarts ala Lina

Portuguese Tarts a la Lina

Ingredients

• 1 roll flaky pastry
• 400 ml whipping cream (2 tubs Schlagsahne)
• 5 eggyolks
• 1 heap tsp cornflour
• 180 gm sugar
• grated lemon peel
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence (see this post)

Method

Roll out pastry and sprinkle generously with flour.

Roll it up firmly with like a swissroll/log and divide into 12 pieces.

Flatten each roll (not sideways) with the swirl on top, roll out to about 10-12cm diameter.

Dust muffin pan generously with flour and gently press pastry to fit.

Place in fridge while proceeding with the filling.

Preheat oven to 250°C.

Place all ingredients in a saucepan. I used a plunger (Stabmixer) to whisk till well combined.

Cook over medium low heat, uncovered, stirring constantly with wooden spoon till custard starts to thicken.

Remove from heat immediately but continue to stir to make sure the custard is smooth.

Spoon custard into pastry cases and bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until pastry is golden and custard is firm.

Ginger Garlic Paste

Garlic Paste: ingredients

Garlic Paste: result

A friend from India brought some fresh tender ginger. If there were more, I could slice them up and preserve them for sushi. With only 250 gm, I decided to add another 250 gm of garlic, 1 tsp salt and dump the whole lot (without adding any liquid or water) into the food processor and turn it all into paste.

Ingredients

• 250 gm fresh tender ginger
• 250 gm fresh garlic
• 250 ml sunflower oil
• 1 tsp salt

Method

Then heated up 250 ml of sunflower oil, cook the ginger garlic paste on medium heat.

A general guide to make sure that the paste is ready: the bubbling oil will be cloudy initially. After 15-20 minutes, as soon as the oil clears, it's done.

Cool and pour into a clean jar.

Keep in refrigerator for at least a month or longer.

This paste is good for Hainanese chicken rice, for curries and even as dip, eg. for pot stickers.

Don's Comfort Tea (Yogi Tea)

Yogi Tea (I)

Yogi Tea (II)

This is one of my favourite drinks...

...with crushed ice and a dash of lemon juice in summer,

...with fresh milk or cream in winter.

Ingredients

• a handful fresh peppermint
• 8-10 pods of green cardamom
• 2 sticks fresh lemongrass (slightly crushed)
• thumb size piece of fresh ginger (slightly crushed)
• black tea of your choice - 2 teabags
• 1 litre water
• sugar/honey to your own preference

Method

Boil all ingredients on medium flame for 20-30 minutes.

Sieve and add sugar/honey.

Serve with lemon juice or milk.

SIMPLE !!

Chinese Mustard Salad (with Ginger Garlic Paste)

Garlic Paste

Chinese Mustard in garden

Mustard cut to bite size

This is one of the basic vegetable dish which every household and restaurant in Asia serves (You Cai).

Ingredients

• fresh chinese mustards from garden
• 1 litre water
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt

Method

Clean and cut mustard into bite size.

Boil water with sugar and salt.

Boil mustard for 3-4 mins -- longer if you like them softer.

Sauce:

• 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp fish sauce or soya sauce

Mix and serve.

Vanilla (essence)

Vanilla Sticks

Cutting + Slitting Pods into Pieces

Vanilla Vodka

Was digging into one of my freezers for some meat this morning. What did I find? A bag with some unidentified 'black sticks'. What in the world are these !?

Then it hit me. Vanilla pods which my dear friend from Mauritius sent me LAST YEAR!! Had totally forgotten about them. Why in the world did I freeze them? Never mind, too late for regrets.

So I defrosted and dried them over the heater for a day ...errr, a bit too long I think, cos some pods snapped when I bent them. But the seeds inside were still moist.

The aroma still very overpowering: the whole house was smelling of Vanilla while the pods were drying. It can't be that bad... can be saved. What choice do I have? They’re too good for the garbage.

Vanilla Essence Recipe of the Day:

• Sacrificed half a bottle of prime vodka from Ukraine.
• Divided the pods into 2 portions:
• First half: I just cut each pod into 4-5 pieces.
• The other half: I slit them open and cut into 1 inch pieces.
• Steeped both portions in vodka and left them in the cellar (hope I will not forget this time).
• Will have to shake them once a week.

Result will be known in 6 months.

Edit: Result can be seen here.